Encoders on Activitybot not working.

Varz

Hello!
I purchased an Activitybot in February and it's been working fine until recently. The encoders seem to no longer be working properly. I ran the encoder test and the P26 & P27 LEDs are both lit up constantly. I made sure the encoders were facing the right way and were properly placed.

Does anyone have a possible solution?

Duane Degn

Apparently the encoders are become misaligned and not work properly. I'll see if I can find the instructions on how to fix the problem and add a link here.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Did the pull-up resistors on the encoder outputs get removed? Those are required for the encoders to function.

-Phil

Duane Degn

Here's the section about the alignment.

http://learn.parallax.com/activitybot/troubleshooting#encoder

If it's still not working let us know what program you're using to test the encoders. Also make sure your batteries are good (bad batteries can cause all sorts of strange errors).

Keith Young

I'll second what Phil said. Make sure you have those resistors to pins 14 and 15. I lost an hour messing with my code/batteries when it turned out I didn't have those resistors connected.

Courtney Jacobs

Odd behaviour in the ActivityBot often is the result of a loose or missing connection.

• Check to make sure the 20 kohm resistors in P14&P15 are in place and seated firmly
• Check encoder connections for loose wires, encoder cables should be attached to P14&P15 servo headers
• Check servo cables, make sure they are firmly attached to servo header pins 12&13.
• Check to make sure the servo screws are not loose; movement in the servo body during use can cause encoder issues
• Check that the jumper for servo headers P12&P13 is present and set to Vin, and for P14&P15 is set to 5V

If all of the above is correct, please try re-running your calibration program and let us know if this solves/doesn't solve your robot's behaviour issues.